Friday Night Fights [Round 39]

Welcome back fight fans, to Sin City Nevada for another bum’s rush edition of Friday Night Fights! This week’s bout is the battle of the big rock candy mountain, with a bottle of hooch and a bulging bindle of SWAG on the line. Without further preamble, let’s go to the tale of the tape.

Fighting out of the red corner, from the somewhere down the drag-line, it’s David “Magneto” Zambito and his “Country Side Tunnel”.

And fighting out of the blue corner, from the back of a Canadian flyer, it’s Jason “The Axeman”Allemann and his “Moutain Train“.

As usual, constant reader, you are tasked with deciding the outcome of this pugilistic endeavor and determine who will receive a week’s worth of bragging rights. Simply leave a comment below and vote for the model that best suits your individual taste. I will tally up the votes next Friday and declare a winner.

Last time, on Friday Night Fights….

It was the battle of the rovers, with crater naming rights and a fresh bottle of oxygen on the line. In the end, “Fabulous” F@bz and his “Yamaha Paladin Rover” scored a hotly contested 7-6 victory over “Badass”Billyburg and his “Big Wheel Rover“. F@bz scores his first victory (1-0) while Billyburg runs his record to (0-1).

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30 thoughts on “Friday Night Fights [Round 39]”

Missed chiming in on the last battle to preserve the tie; I could have voted for either.

For me, I dig the build from the Magneto Zambito. The microscale train is really thoughtful design, especially that visor as a cow-catcher. I also like making out the wheels and the track design. Would have liked axeman to use different colors on those tracks and rail-ties… Among other things.

David has the better train, but Jason has the better diorama. The bridge is eyecatching, and I liked that as I kept scanning the scene, I found a castle/temple tucked in the back. The landscape is much more rugged and dynamic. Jason for me.

It is country side tunnel from Zambito for me. Mostly because I think the train is better. Alleman probably has a better dio, but not enough to push it over the top in this fight. It’s a close one though.

Zambito. While Alleman’s build has “more” (a castle! A river! An bridge! And who doesn’t love a bridge over a ravine?), more isn’t necessarily better. The lack of a coal tender on a steam train bothers me, and the focus of the composition (either the train or the bridge) can’t match Zambito’s awesome track and cow catcher. I’m also digging how Zambito’s terrain is simultaneously technically interesting and restrained enough to not detract from the focus.

I’m rolling with Jason’s build. Whilst I do think that David’s train is a better build, and the countryside surrounding the tunnel is fantastic, I reckon Jason’s overall diorama and the vibe it gives off is more interesting. Those mountains and the bridge are fantastic! The Axeman gets my vote.

Jason has a more dynamic landscape, but David’s is better executed. Jason’s rock work suffers from some unfortunate flat spots and entirely one brick increments. I quite like the irregular dark green splotches in David’s landscape, thought I would’ve preferred more height variation in the green section. David’s track design is excellent, whereas I find the gray grill tiles under Jason’s track to look odd. David’s train is also superior I think, that cowcatcher is inspired.
Red corner for me.

I’ll agree with what several others have said: Jason’s diorama, with the steep slopes, bridge, and hidden castle, had the potential to be more engaging, but the execution, while not bad, is not particularly inspired. David’s diorama is less dynamic, but the execution, particularly on the train and the landscaping, is really top-notch. My vote goes to Magneto.

Im so glad you asked… allow me to lay out some critical assumptions before I begin… (or not).

No, this time, I was in a big dam hurry.

But in the name of substance:

Both trains hit my eye in very similar ways. They are both pretty cool. Both really tiny. I like the conservative use of terrain in “Country Train”. Trees and look! A tiny tent and a camp fire. The terrain in “Mountain Train” is much more ambitious… it’s towering bridge and there in the back… what is that? Looks like the bad guys head quarters in a James Bond movie! What are those? Antenna? Minarets? Is it industrial? What it is in the end is vaguely distracting. Like the rest of “Mountain” the structure is ambitious and well executed… but the train and the “complex” seem ill matched. Parts of two excellent builds, juxtaposed here… but not really meshing. To my eye, the humble tent of “country” sits easy amongst the trees. “Country” just seems more cohesive. AND… that cow catcher is snappy cool!

🙂 Nice breakdown. I have to admit that I didn’t notice the secret HQ in the mountains the first time I glanced at Mountain Train. It kind of blends in a little. Though a bit strange, it is interesting. I think this is battle is a little closer than I originally thought it, but still have to go with Country Train.

Note that the Blue Corner isn’t being represented by Allemann himself this week, but by his girlfriend. He doesn’t give a name in that specific photo, but I’m gonna assume it’s his longtime partner in crime, Kristal Dubois. I think “Mountain Train” would be one of her first MOCs if so.

This is a tough call. Both models create the same sense of motion by having the train still appearing from behind the scene. Zambito’s is obviously the technically superior build, but keep in mind Kristal’s is from late 2012, making it over 5 years old now.

Kristal’s has certainly aged well and I actually prefer her smoke technique over Zambito’s. It’s got an incredible variety in its scenery for a vignette of its size, and I remember the bridge being quite impressive at the time as an early application of those masonry bricks. It’s packed with little details that keep catching the eye, and yet it doesn’t feel cluttered. Everything is just so well balanced and composed. There’s even multiple layers of forced perspective going on. That umbrella would look huge next to the train, but down at the bottom in the foreground it looks fine. Likewise, that city/castle is well-placed in the background thanks to being a slightly smaller scale. Speaking of which, I kind of like how ambiguous those buildings are. They’re whimsical in a retro futuristic way and almost feel out of place (what’s up with those wrenches?) but I like them a lot.

Zambito does a great job at creating that liberating feeling of coming out of a long tunnel and into open fields. He went for a more focused scene and I think it paid off. The trees look a little weird to me, maybe because they remind me of rice balls. And I’d rather the smoke went up and then curved back rather than the other way around. But I shouldn’t even need to bring up the cowcatcher and the track at this point; they simply make for one of the best microscale trains ever.

I had trouble deciding in the end, but I’m going with Kristal simply because I had so much more to say about it, which is all the more impressive given the work’s age.

You bring an important perspective to the argument supporting the red corner. It is interesting to note the build’s age; it has indeed aged well, and the rock technique which was novel then is quite outdated now and one of the reasons that I judged the build harshly. I might have to factor age of a build into my future judgments on the weekly fight. Thanks for getting me to think, Cristopher.